It was here that the Kennedy family would spend summers and where JFK would go when he needed to think. It was his safe harbour in a troubled world and is the best place to get a glimpse of the private man. Stop first at the John F Kennedy Hyannis Museum in the Old Town Hall, Main Street. (001 508 790 3077, ). Walter Cronkite narrates a video about the Kennedys in Cape Cod and happy family photos complete the picture Opening times vary, phone for details.
Admission $5 (£3.20).Rose and Joe had bought a summer home in 1927. Later JFK, brother Robert and other family members bought homes here, creating what has become known as the Kennedy Compound. Some of the Kennedy clan still live here so it is strictly off limits, but Hy-Line Harbour Tours (001 508 778 2600, , $12/£8) will take you around the bay and you can get a distant view.On Ocean Drive in Hyannisport is the JFK Memorial which faces the waters where he swam and sailed. It’s finished, touchingly, with a full signature in an immature hand. Later, you can spot that same signature, virtually unchanged by the years, on documents relating to the Cuban Missile Crisis.It’s an excellent museum; you can follow JFK’s campaign and his thousand days in the White House, there’s also a good section about Jackie although it doesn’t go into her later years.The exhibits end on 22 November 1963 in a darkened corridor but then you turn a corner and you can see the legacy of those years.
On show is one of his exercise books with a plea for a raise in his allowance. The argument was well put – a sign of the politician he would become – and he was awarded a few more cents a week. WHERE CAN YOU GET THE BEST IDEA OF HIS TIME AS PRESIDENT? At the John F Kennedy Library and Museum at Columbia Point, overlooking Boston Harbour (001 877 616 4599, .) The exhibition starts with a photo gallery of this large, striking family. Student-led tours are free and start from Harvard Events and Info Centre, Holyoke Center, Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge. Times vary; call 001 617 495 1573 or visit , on the corner of JFK Street and Memorial Drive is the JFK Park Traffic races by this quiet spot near the Cambridge River. His rooms are now used by the John F Kennedy School of Government. You can take a tour, self-guided or with a Harvard student, around Harvard Yard and the campus.
The restaurant, which is a National Historic Landmark, is wonderful and rambling, the floors slope and people crowd around the semi-circular oyster bar as they have since it opened in 1826. Family run, the restaurant is unpretentious, the food excellent and the prices sensible. HIS SPEECHES WERE INSPIRING – WHERE DID HE LEARN TO WRITE LIKE THAT? He studied politics, government and economics at Harvard and graduated in 1940. He would come here at noon on Sundays, thankful for the privacy that the upstairs booth provided and enjoy his favourite meal: lobster stew.You can eat there too, although the booth is in great demand so you will need to book.